Roller Skates
by purple snowflakes
Summary: Six years ago, Kinomoto Sakura had craved and would give up anything for a pair of roller skates she could call her own. Six years later, the same Kinomoto Sakura would have given up anything to have not owned that pair of roller skates...
1. When We First Met

Roller Skates

By Melody

Six years ago, Kinomoto Sakura had craved and would give up anything for a pair of roller skates she could call her own. Six years later, the same Kinomoto Sakura would have given up anything to have not owned that pair of roller skates... But why?

A/N: Yes, I _know_ Sakura's 'wheel shoes' are called roller **_blades_**, not roller **_skates_**, but, you know, they just sound nicer. By the way, roller skates are four-wheeled shoes, with two wheels on each side, while roller blades are shoes with wheels in a straight line. Many people can't tell the difference. No offence, though. :D

* * *

"Please, Onii-chan, let me follow you! Just this once, please?" Kinomoto Sakura squealed delightedly as she bounced up and down, upon hearing that her brother was going to work part-time. Again. 

"No, fat kaijuu. You'll only get in my way." her brother, Kinomoto Touya, said extremely irritably.

Their father, Kinomoto Fujitaka came rushing down the stairs, staring at his watch all the time. Upon seeing his beloved children, he flashed a kindly smile, threw a casual "Enjoy your day, children" and hastily pulled on a pair of shoes, slamming the door firmly behind him.

Touya and Sakura watched as their father rushed off hurriedly for work, then Touya turned back to his kid sister. "On second thoughts, you might be useful in attracting lots of attention." he ruffled Sakura's messy tresses and smirked evilly as Sakura glowed with happiness.

"Kaijuus _do_ attract a lot of attention, don't they?"

Sakura fumed and started pouting in the background. "Hmph! I DON'T LIKE Onii-chan anymore!" she folded her arms and stomped her foot. _Ow_. It hurt. But she wasn't going to let it show.

When Touya ignored her silly antics, Sakura yanked on his arms and pulled him towards the car porch. She was still pouting when they got on his bike and started riding along a road full of cherry blossom trees.

"Ooh, Onii-chan! Look at all those sakura trees! So beautiful!"

Touya rolled his eyes a little but still couldn't suppress a loving grin. "Someday, Sakura, you'll be as pretty as those sakura flowers." he muttered under his breath, making sure that his little sister couldn't hear him. He wondered how giving out balloons could make seven-year-olds so excited. To him, a sixteen-year-old, (A/N: this is an AU story, so the age might be slightly different) it was like mundane work and he wasn't going to start bouncing off the ceiling because of it.

A slight breeze blew across the siblings' cheeks. It was the start of another beautiful, serene morning.

* * *

Sakura hopped off the back of Touya's old bike immediately when they had arrived and began skipping towards the shopping mall, still humming the tuneless song to herself, unsure of what she was actually humming. _She's so happy_, Touya thought, letting a satisfied smile escape through his seemingly cool and emotionless face. _And for that, I'm grateful_. 

Kids' First Choice Inc. was a huge single-level departmental store that offered just about everything kids loved. Touya had to practically drag Sakura away from the toys and clothes section. Her rich glimmering emerald eyes were torn away from the sight of so many fluffy pink dresses, and a pair of roller skates. "Buy me those wheel shoes for my next birthday, Onii-chan!" she squealed, her eyes dancing with delight.

"Those aren't wheel shoes. They're _roller skates_, kaijuu. And they're really expensive, you know. I can't afford it."

"Fine! ROLLER SKATES! But I still want them."

"I can't afford it, fat kaijuu. Why not _you_ help me later to get extra income by screaming your head off and performing a little kaijuu ritual? Oooh, how the police would love to see you! They would want to get their hands on a nasty lil monster, won't they?" Touya's eyes shone with mischief as he yanked on his sister's arms to get her away from the departmental store and into the Out-Of-Bounds-For-Unauthorized-Personnels sales and marketing manager office.

"Good day, Kinomoto-kun!" the young and handsome manager whirled around from the window in his roller-chair to face Touya and Sakura. "It's good to see you again! Oh, and I see that you have brought an extremely cute girl! How I'd love to have her as our mascot!"

Touya grimaced at the thought of seeing his kid sister's face all over Kids' First Choice Weekly Newsletter and the seven o'clock news. He could just imagine: "Konbanwa, minna-san! Today, the telecast features Kids' First Choice Incorporated, with its new mascot, young Miss Kinomoto Sakura! With her scintillating rich emerald eyes, her cute facial features and bubbly optimistic character, she'd be sure to bring lots of young customers to our largest kids departmental store!" he winced again.

"She's my sister."

"Yes, yes, I know! But wouldn't it be simply lovely to have her!" the young manager said, brushing his greyish fringe out of his eyes, or rather, glasses. Then he gave a lopsided grin and lowered his tone. "Sonomi-san needs a mascot, or that's what she says. I think her daughter needs a friend. Rich kids don't usually have a lot of friends, you know. They're just so isolated from the rest of the world."

Turning to Sakura, he continued, "Hey, young girl, would you mind if we ask you to try all of our toys? Since this is the promotion period, you may just choose to bring home any one. You should try on those clothes too!" he picked up a phone, dialled a few buttons and started whispering into the receiver.

"Later, a lady aka my secretary will bring you to a place to try on everything, all right? If there are flashes of lights here and there, don't be afraid. Okay?"

Sakura nodded happily, her messy tresses bouncing up and down. Seeing this, the young manager smiled kindly and handed Touya a bunch of balloons.

There was a soft knock on the door as a young lady in her twenties, wearing a beige ankle-length office dress walked in, followed closely by a queer but pretty-looking girl, about the same age as Sakura. Sakura quickly joined them and the threesome engaged themselves in an introductive conversation.

"Hi! My name is Daidouji Tomoyo, the daughter of this company's owner, Daidouji Sonomi. Nice to meet you! I'm eight, by the way." the girl's amethyst (A/N: or violet. argh, what is it?) eyes shone confidently as she spoke. Sakura thought she sounded much older than eight. Her long flowing violet hair swished elegantly with her every movement.

"Hi!" she replied in a cheery tone. "Good to see you! My name is Kinomoto Sakura. And that is my onii-chan, Kinomoto Touya." she eyed the teenager gloomily, who was still holding on to a bunch of heart-shaped balloons, the letters KFC (A/N: whoa I didn't realise it had the same first letters as Kentucky Fried Chicken until I typed it out... my gosh) printed on it with black ink.

On the other side of the room, as the two males watched the females introduce themselves, Touya spoke up. "Yuki, are you sure this would be o -"

"Don't worry, Touya," the manager, Tsukishiro Yukito, reassured his ex-high school friend. He graduated two years before Touya and was currently in a business university, while working as a manager to earn his school fees, since he was an orphan. Touya heaved a dramatic sigh and went outside, with Sakura joining him soon after.

"I'll be trying on all those things right after you finish giving out the balloons, Onii-chan! So you'd better hurry!" Sakura said. As they walked out of the shopping mall, she sang happily: "Hanyaan...! The manager was so nice, Onii-chan! Nicer than you! Oh, and I'm going to get those wheel shoes too! Whoopee!" she started performing a little dance, basically consisting of a jump and a twirl, and after her third twirl, she lost balance, tripped and fell face down onto the hard cement.

"Ouch," Touya said sarcastically while helping her up. As he was doing this, his hands automatically let go of the balloons. The freed balloons raced down the pavement, knocking into pedestrians as they rushed by. Most of them ignored the balloons, and so did Touya. His sister's safety was more important than stupid balloons. He was sure Yukito wouldn't mind either.

Sakura was crying, her face buried in her hands. There were minor scratches here and there, but all Sakura was crying about was: "Onii-chan didn't give out -sob- the balloons... I won't get the -sob- wheel shoes! Onii-chan -sob- naughty!"

Touya sat on the pavement, all the while resting Sakura's head on his lap, trying frantically to stabilize her struggling and kicking legs. "It's all right, you'll get the roller skates..."

A tiny figure loomed over him. The figure's shadow was casted beside Touya's, giving him away. Touya and Sakura both looked up at the same time, only to see a boy no older than eight, holding one of the green heart-shaped balloons that he must have caught while it 'flew' down the pavement. Its shade was somewhere between emerald and serious green, appearing extremely beautiful to Sakura.

"There, girl. Your brother _did_ give out balloons. I have one right now. So stop crying." he looked away and muttered under his breath: "Can't stand crying girls."

Then he turned back to Sakura. "Stop crying like a baby. Crying won't help. I have a plaster here; you want it?" as he spoke, his piercing amber eyes showed no trace of concern, curiosity, or even the innocence eight-year-olds' eyes were supposed to hold. Sakura, however, seemed hypnotized, as she took the plaster with much gratefulness.

"Arigatou! That was really nice of you! My name's Kinomoto Sakura." she replied, her voice still a little sore from crying.

"Li Syaoran." _Sakura. _Wasn't that the name of a flower? "I'm a tourist from Hong Kong who plans to live here, if this tour gives my family and I a good impression of Japan. And you -" he glared pointedly at Sakura. "Are the first person I've talked to."

He smiled most unexpectedly. It was the one-of-a-Li-Syaoran-kind rare smile. He never gave that smile to anyone but his cousin, Meiling. And that was only once. "It's nice to meet you. Even though you seem like an awful crybaby to me, you're still cute."

Sakura decided against protesting that she wasn't an awful crybaby, and stood upright, holding out her right palm. Resting on it was a cherry blossom she had caught floating in the wind earlier, when Touya was riding the bike along the road full of cherry blossom trees. "This is for you! Because... I know we'll meet again! And by then, you can return this to me, even if it had died!" (A/N: she doesn't know flowers wither, not die.)

Li accepted it while muttering an inaudible 'arigatou', leaving with his mother who had come to search for him. Sakura stared at Li's back until he was out of sight, and walked back with a groaning Touya who was mumbling something about where she had gotten that cherry blossom from.

* * *

Kinomoto Sakura came out of the fitting room, wearing a pink fluffy dress. Wait, _another_ pink fluffy dress. Ooooh, how it delighted Sakura! It was the last piece she had to try on, and, just like all the rest, when she stepped out of the 'small room with a mirror', cameras, or, known by her as 'lights that flashed', were clicking away, busy taking Sakura in her dress from all angles. 

Tomoyo smiled as Daidouji Sonomi joined in the crew. "Oh, Sakura-chan, you look lovely! You are simply so adorable... Would you mind being friends with my daughter?" she said, as soon as she walked near Sakura.

Sakura, being her innocent and clueless self, returned a bright smile and followed Manager Yukito's secretary to the toy department. Her face lit up so much that it would have glowed in a pitch-dark tunnel. She looked around for directions, then immediately grabbed the pair of roller skates. "May I try this on?"

"Sure, sure, sweetheart!" Sonomi trilled. "Go ahead and try all you want. Just don't spoil it, it's very costly!"

Sakura fitted her tiny feet into the oversized shoes and tried to move. If not for her being a natural, she would have fallen many more times than this. But very soon, she had mastered the skill to balance herself on wheels and glided between the aisles like a flitting butterfly.

Everyone watching clapped tremendously and agreed that this seven-year-old girl was a perfect natural. "May I have this pair of wheel shoes?" Sakura pleaded, getting all excited.

Everyone saw Sonomi's pencil-thin eyebrow furrow. "Ano, cupcake, that is for my daughter. She is about to learn it -"

"O_kaa_-san!" Tomoyo stared at her mum with an air of reproval. "Give it to her. I don't believe you can't afford another pair of _roller skates_."

"Yes, please! I can be your miscat (A/N: mascot) if you want! I really want to have that pair of wheel shoes!" Sakura looked away, hiding the craving for the roller skates in her eyes, shining ever so brightly. "But if you really can't give it to me, never mind..."

The pair of roller skates was gently shoved into her hands by slender delicate fingers. Sakura looked back in surprise and delight as Daidouji Tomoyo gave her a warm smile, enough to bring spring into winter...


	2. When We Were Friends

**purple snowflake ONE presents to you...**

**ROLLER SKATES**

**CHAPTER TWO**

**Hope you haven't given up on this story! (:**

-When We Were Friends-

Daidouji Tomoyo gave Kinomoto Sakura a warm smile, enough to bring spring warmth into a typical winter morning. Sakura panted an "Ohayo!" before slumping into her seat, glad that she had arrived before their homeroom teacher, which was a rare thing. She removed the safety pads from around her wrists and shivered. Sakura wasn't one that could stand the cold. She hastily put the pads on again, rubbing her palms together to create frictional warmth. Both of them were now fifth-graders at Tomoeda Elementary School and nothing interesting had recently happened to them. But nothing lasts, not even plain old boredom.

Tomoyo giggled and practically hopped over to the other end of the classroom where the controls of the air-conditioner in summer and electrical heater in winter was, adjusting the control to a slightly higher notch. Sakura let out a huge sigh of relief as she removed her roller skates and stuffed them in her locker... Just in time. She saw the front door opening as her homeroom teacher faked a cough to get his class' attention.

She managed a small chuckle as her poor friend almost knocked headfirst into their "dear" little teacher. He coughed again, this time sounding much more genuine. As he walked in, he closed the door _very_ gently, as if afraid to knock down something.

"Good morning, class."

"Goooooood morrrrrrrninnnnnnng seeeenseiii..." the class droned. He coughed again and nodded briefly, and, as if on cue, a boy walked in, slamming the door fiercely behind him.

It turned out to be the biggest surprise of Sakura's life. It was no ordinary boy, of course. Nothing was ever ordinary in Tomoeda, except for everything. He walked onto the small curb of a stage slowly and cautiously, though there was something different about his movement; slow, yet swift, as if a bullet would be shot through the air right at that precise moment.

Even the air seemed to stale and everyone's breath was frozen as the teacher scribbled down the boy's name on the chalk board. For a few seconds, only the scratching of chalk could be heard, and yet even it sounded distant and unreal. For Sakura, that was. Her glimmering emerald eyes fixed on the boy's hypnotizing amber ones. _Yes, I have seen them before... _a small voice said in a deep down part of her heart. _Definitely... I have never been so sure..._

"KINOMOTO-SAN!" a monotonous screech, though failing miserably to be qualified as one, woke Sakura up from her daydream. Everyone was staring at the boy and her now, like they were the opponents in a match, ready to strike any moment. She gulped and stared at the boy, hoping that would give her comfort.

Which was a totally wrong idea from the start, from the very beginning since their eyes first met (like about four years ago). Those eyes pierced through her mind, penetrating into the deepest, darkest areas of Sakura's heart, exploring her thoughts with ease...

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and swallowed hard, not at all realizing that a blush had covered her cheeks which were already tinged pink from the cold. "Um... Yes?"

"I need you to raise your hand and tell me where I would be sitting for the rest of the year," the boy replied, his pupils flashing dangerously. Shakily, Sakura raised her hand and tried to acknowledge the boy, and immediately knew that she wasn't aware of his name. Staring at the chalkboard, her already blank-from-total-shock mind whirled once more, transporting her to a time somewhere around four years ago...

Yes, now she was sure of it. As real as her being alive. The boy was Li Syaoran. The person she promised to be eternally grateful to besides Tomoyo, for helping her get that pair of roller skates she valued above anything else, because it was a pledge, a pledge of friendship and eternity. And the cherry blossom, too. She hadn't forgotten about that.

"Li... Li-kun?" she said timidly, afraid to hear her own voice echo, as Li swiftly walked down the aisle to the seat behind Sakura.

"Mmm?" he grunted, barely audible.

"Do you remember... four years ago?"

"When I first came to Japan? Yeah, sure I do."

"Do you remember a -"

"Stop chit-chatting, Kinomoto-san, Li-kun! Especially Kinomoto-san, since you already know that this is strictly forbidden in my class." their sensei glared at them. Sakura grimaced but Li just stayed where he was, without a trace of fear.

The lunch bell had rung minutes ago, and yet Sakura was still lingering in the classroom, unwilling to take a step outside. "It's unfair! Why does he have to choose us to help Li!" she shrieked, then stopped. Maybe it was a good idea, after all. She could tell Li all about their 'long-lost' friendship and maybe he wouldn't give her that stupid glare, as if he was telling her that she was stupid, anymore.

"Ohohohoho, Sakura-chan, you're just sooooooo kawaii when you shriek! I BET Li-kun will fall in love with you!" Tomoyo burst into fits of high-pitched giggles.

Sakura winced a little, relaxed and let Tomoyo pull her out of the class, her shoulder almost wrenched out of its socket. She winced in pain as Li gave her another of his famous girls-are-so-lame stare, and then strolled behind Tomoyo and Sakura, taking in his surroundings, like he always did.

Finally, Tomoyo led them to a quiet area of the field and sat down on the mat she laid as soon as they had arrived. She smiled and started chattering away, while Sakura, the usually noisy one, just stared at Li who practically stared right back.

"You have nice eyes, you know, Kinomoto. Green eyes are rare, and it happens to be my favourite colour too." he cut in just as Tomoyo was about to describe a tree nearby. She gave him a little nudge and muttered 'emerald'.

"Um, I mean emerald."

Sakura's heart fluttered for no reason at all as she began stuttering something. "Uhh, thanks - thanks for the compliment... Uh - I - I... Do you remember Tomoyo-chan? Uh... Gomen! I mean... Uh, uh, you know my surname's Kinomoto right? Uh..." she stopped to gasp for breath, as her companions stared at her with a weird expression. "Hoe..."

It was then that Chiharu, Naoko and Rika decided to stop by and chat. The girls chattered away happily, leaving Syaoran out of the conversation.

Tomoyo, being the observant girl she was, noted that Syaoran was left out, and so started gasping about a tiny flower she had found somewhere in the grass and turned everyone's attention to it. Except... Guess who.

That person apparently wasn't interested in stupid stuff like this. He walked around the school compound by himself, thinking about the surname, _Kinomoto_. It sounded so ironic on his lips, yet so familiar in his head, ringing, ringing. He shook his head violently, and groaned. Stupid, stupid, stupid! What was so great and wonderful about KINOMOTO! It's just a surname, for heaven's sake.

"Li-KUUUUUUUUUUUN!" an unfamiliar voice rang out from behind him. Two boys stood there, smiling, waiting for his response. The difference between the two was almost immediately recognizable; one had a 'I'm-the-class-clown' face, with jet black hair and a fringe that didn't reach his eyebrows, and an I'm-always-joking smile. The other...

He couldn't really tell what this boy was made of.

Mysteriously glimmering midnight navy eyes, with strange dark blue hair, topped with a charming smile... He would have to find out more about this boy soon. Hiiragizawa, wasn't he?

"Takashi? Hiiragizawa?" he asked, his brilliant amber eyes piercing right through the boys.

Both of them nodded, flashing smiles in Li's direction. He was just about to walk off in the other direction, too pissed off by all this kindness shown towards him, when _another_ "Li-KUUUUN!" almost deafened him. Guess who were walking towards him.

The big gold wordings appeared in front of the group. Kids' First Choice, a name Daidouji Tomoyo and Kinomoto Sakura were all too familiar with, since Tomoyo's mother owned that company, and Sakura was her best friend. Well, to Yamazaki, Eriol, Naoko, Rika and Chiharu, it was a departmental store they loved, as their best friend's mother would always give them GREAT discounts up to... Well, FOC, of course.

But to Sakura and Tomoyo, the toy department of the store was a special place. The bud of their long-term friendship. The reason they brought Li here was to try and let him remember Sakura... and the cherry blossom. She desperately hoped that Li would tell her 'Oh, that! Yeah, I still have it, of course.'

But the present Li frowned and tried very hard to recall the store. "Uhhhhh, a green balloon? A cherry blossom? Kinomoto Sakura... Crying over 'wheel shoes'... WHEEL SHOES! WHAT THE HECK ARE THEY!"

Sakura grimaced and tried to explain how she thought those were normal shoes with wheels at first, but found it extremely difficult. Li grunted whenever Sakura paused for breath, and then, very suddenly, he coughed, very loudly.

"Kinomoto. I think. I. I - I. Threw. Threw. The flower away." He managed to choke out, with a bit of cough as cover up for his great deal of embarrassment.

Sakura's shoulders froze, then quickly drooped as Li, unable to hide his embarrassment anymore, ran away from the scene.

"Sakura-chan?"

"Hai, Tomoyo-chan?" Tomoyo thought Sakura's voice sounded extremely sore.

"Are... are you still angry with Li-kun?"

She thought she heard the soft ruffling of tissue paper. "Of course not, Tomoyo-chan! Why should I be angry with him? I mean, it's only a single cherry blossom. It doesn't matter. At least he remembers me." A silly laugh. "It's no big deal, seriously."

"Right, I'm glad to hear that, well, I've to go now, see you tomorrow, don't be too upset, kays? You'll always be my kawaii Sakura-chan."

"Hai!" Sakura seemed to cheer up much more considerably.

_It doesn't matter… right? So why does it hurt so much? Is Li really so important to me I just had to cry over him?_

"Ah!" Sakura stretched as the gentle breeze blew over her tired body and refreshed her mind. "A great start to a great day! I wonder if Tomoyo-chan and Li-kun have woken up already!"

For the next few months, Li sort of started hanging around them but most of the time he was alone, with a mysterious personality and an enigmatic aura surrounding him. Besides Sakura, Tomoyo, Yamazaki and Eriol, no one actually dared get near him more than they were supposed to. Sakura thought that was sad. Li-kun's so nice, she would say; why don't you like him? He helped me get a pair of roller skates before you know?

And then Li would walk away with his fingers raking through his chestnut brown hair, and Sakura would feel rather despised, and Tomoyo would comfort her, but she never stopped trying to befriend Li.

Tomoyo would stand by the perimeters watching the kawaii scene silently with a camcorder in hand. One afternoon she sensed Hiiragizawa-san's presence. "Hey, Hiiragizawa-kun, come to watch the show too?"

"No, Tomoyo-san." Eriol shook his head, his eyes focused on the long wavy tumbles down her back. _Why must you be so beautiful in my eyes? I shouldn't be falling for you… This is just so wrong. _"Don't let Sakura-san get too emotionally attached to him, please. He would just end up hurting her in the end."

"Right, okay, thank you," she muttered, one elegant lavender pupil still focused behind-the-camera. He doubted the fact she even heard him correctly. "Don't worry, I heard you."

He nodded in mock calm, but inside it was wild. She read him like a book! It was impossible. No one ever even found out what he was going to eat for lunch, let alone what he worried for. She was too clever, too observant, too _logical_. "It's only me who know you inside out," she replied to his thoughts without clicking the pause button on the camcorder. "And today's lunch is fried rice with orange juice. Yeah, I know I got your schedule right, I've memorized it. Don't worry I won't get it wrong." His diet schedule repeated its pattern five weeks later. It was amazing she even bothered to notice it.

She was more than truly remarkable.

"Uh, Tomoyo-san?" She glanced up briefly at her name. "Just one last thing before I leave."

"Speak your mind."

"Could you… call me Eriol instead? You know, I don't like formalities and stuff…" his words faded away and a confident smile slowly made its way back to his facial expressions again.

"Really?" She raised an elegant eyebrow, as if doubting something that had already gone so wrong. "Okay, then, see you tomorrow, Eriol-kun."

His name rolled off her tongue as if she'd been saying it since forever. He savored the taste over and over again in his mind of calculations and puzzles, in the one small corner where feelings barely existed at all. He was just in time to catch her dazzling, careless smile that spilled over him like the sunshine peeking in through half-drawn curtains.

He waved and left the threesome.

"Tomoyo-chan!" A lilting voice shrieked over the noise of the surrounding crowds that were melting away. "You want to go to the new theme park during the weekends?"

"Sure, anytime," she flashed a smile at her best friend.

"And you, Li-kun?" Sakura cocked her head to one side, waiting expectantly for an answer.

No one could refuse an obvious plead like that, and neither did Li. "Whatever." He muttered under his breath.

"Yay! Silence means consent, ne, ne Tomoyo-chan?" she squealed, her voice ever so pleasant, ever so delightful.

Tomoyo didn't make any comment. Knowing Sakura's bluntness, she left her on her own to figure out. "Then…" she trailed off dreamily after a while, "you'll come to my house for a fitting, won't you, Sakura-chan?" Her lavender eyes sparkled brilliantly with hearts and stars that rivaled a shop dedicated to Valentine's Day.

The theme park was filled with excited kids and exasperated adults. Amongst them three people stood out, because of the clothes they had on. One had a lime green one-piece dress with artificial cherry blossoms decking its hem. Obviously the colors were a mismatch, but all the creator cared about was making her stand out anyway. Her light and bouncy tresses were tied up in two cute ponytails. The other wore a simple lilac blouse and a beige skirt, with an elegant handbag to go along. Her long wavy hair tumbled down her back, swishing gracefully with her every movement.

Their grumpy companion, however, was really disgruntled with his set of clothes. "I…" he spoke through gritted teeth, "do not make appearances with a suit resembling sailor clothing and a _tie_! Sailors don't wear _ties._"

"But you look absolutely kawaii!" Tomoyo replied defensively, focusing her camcorder on Li's beet red face. "Let's get on that one," she pointed randomly at one of the many rides the theme park had to offer.

"Hoe…" Sakura breathed heavily. "Not THAT, Tomoyo-chan!" It was the huge roller coaster surrounding the outer hills of the park.

"Well it seems like you'll have to brave it, Sakura-san…" The mystical voice rang somewhere behind them, startling Li and Sakura. Tomoyo twirled around, and through the lens, she could see Hiiragizawa Eriol smiling beneath the sunlight. "with Li-kun, because I'll make sure it's an amazing experience for Tomoyo-san."

Her eyes widened ever so slightly behind the camera. No one had ever separated her from Sakura, no matter under what circumstances. But here he was, requesting her presence. Would she accept it? Should she take up the challenge?

_But after all, I won't be the one for Sakura-chan. Sometimes I should just let go of her for a bit._

"Yeah, go on, Sakura-chan, Li-kun! We'll be waiting for you here." She spoke dangerously soft, as if Eriol had just taunted her into doing something very wrong.

Li turned briskly and started walking towards the magnificent queue that increased its length every five seconds, as if to say 'I'm not a coward unlike somebody'. Being the girl who never wanted to admit defeat, Sakura ran as fast as she could in her dress to catch up with Li, leaving Tomoyo and Eriol alone.

"Well, then," he said with a smirk, "we shall go have _our_ bit of fun. But before that, I'll make sure they get their reward too." He walked off in the direction of the roller coaster, returning after about a minute. Then he and Tomoyo wandered about the park, before he stopped at the 3-Dimensional Theatre. "This… is what I would call amazing."

--

Sakura and Li lined up behind the last person in the queue. The last round had just ended and three quarters of the queue moved forward to get on. The people on the previous round had pale faces and some even looked like they were going to faint any moment. Li could feel Sakura shiver slightly behind him.

"Li-kun, I'm scared." She admitted.

"Well then don't get on."

"But! I can't be a coward, can I?" She shrieked hysterically. About ten heads were turned in their direction.

"Baka. No one told you to prove yourself." Neither spoke much after that, and when it was their turn to get on, Sakura shuffled her feet slowly. But Li gave her a rather violet push into the front seat and she stumbled forward.

"What was _that_ for? I thought you said I shouldn't get – AHHHHH!" She was cut mid-sentence by the sudden movement of the train. The roller coaster swerved abruptly to its right, causing Li to move in Sakura's direction. Then it moved up a small hill, and whooshed downwards. All Li felt was a cooling breeze that calmed him. But Sakura was clutching tightly onto the safety bar before her, shutting her eyes tight, trying very hard not to scream.

Another hill, this time slightly higher. The winds gushed past their ears as Li raised his voice so he could be heard. "It would be better if you scream!"

He looked beside him. They now coursed at a rather slow pace through the slowly curving upwards hill which would eventually lead them to the highest point. At that exact point was a 360-degrees turn and they would be on their way back to the start. Nothing much to him. He'd tried far worse than this.

A sudden jerk to the left earned him an ear-piercing shriek from his noisy companion and extra weight on his right arm. "Geroff me!"

"But I'm scared!" She shouted above the whooshing wind and clutched his arm even tighter. "We're going up and not going down!"

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. They were fast approaching the highest point now, and then it would be the 360; Sakura might even bite his arm in frenzy! Li closed his eyes irritably.

His world was all of a sudden turned upside down literally as the roller coaster took a 360 turn so now he felt as if he was dangling helplessly from a cobweb. The squeeze on his arm tightened, circulation leaving it. Then unexpectedly, nothing seemed to move.

Was it a hallucination? "Hoe?" Sakura's voice rang beside him loud and clear even though she didn't raise it. He opened his eyes; they were still upside down, but they were clearly not moving. Was the system faulty? "LI-KUN! HELP! WE'RE NOT MOVING! I'M FALLING!"

There it was; the brilliant scenery upside down. He felt a surge of panic course through him as the grip on him loosened. Sakura raised her hand to wipe away tears of fear and nervousness.

_I must be calm at a time like this. Kinomoto and the rest are waiting to be rescued. Think, boy, think. Use that intelligent mind of yours and work out a solution._

Somehow, this accident didn't seem right. Somehow, he smelt the distant aroma of Hiiragizawa.

**A/N: Well, well! If it isn't the LOOOOOOOOOOONG time gap between the updates! I threw this story totally off my mind and one day it popped into it and screamed to be continued. No promises that it would even have a third chapter, but DROP A REVIEW:D I know you're all really nice people out there. (:**


End file.
